


What he doesn't say

by GreyPigeon



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Fluff, Horni boyfriends, Innuendo, M/M, Past Child Neglect, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:34:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27333481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreyPigeon/pseuds/GreyPigeon
Summary: Yusuke is seriously unwell. Boyfriends to the rescue!
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren/Kitagawa Yusuke, Akechi Goro/Kitagawa Yusuke/Kurusu Akira
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	What he doesn't say

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NoonoosKitchen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoonoosKitchen/gifts).



> This is ridiculously overdue... my nick should be Grey Snail or Grey Sloth or something equally slow, apparently anteaters are pretty slow too, I'm gonna think about it
> 
> This is probably rated too high, but better safe than sorry. 
> 
> This is for @NoonoosKitchen, with a sincere hug and a wink ;)

**~*~**

Ren’s face was completely focused as he wrung the small, white towel into the bowl of cool water and folded it neatly in a narrow compress; he arranged it on Yusuke’s forehead. The closed eyelids fluttered, but didn’t open. The sweaty bangs were plastered to his temples, and the unhealthy, brick-red flush covered his cheeks and crawled down his neck and chest.

“Not good, it’s climbing up,” Goro muttered on Ren’s left, reading the thermometer. “39.7 . It’s getting dangerous.”

“Maybe he just didn’t react to the medicine? You know, like some people prefer ibuprofen over paracetamol. I should call Takemi again,” Ren muttered, holding onto Yusuke’s limp hand and petting it mechanically, agitation clearly written on his face.

“Or maybe he didn’t eat dinner again nor drink enough water, and the medicine takes longer to dissolve and work properly.” Akechi sighed. 

“I wish he’d just told me he’s feeling unwell,” Ren muttered, his jaw clenched and rigid. “But he still keeps doing it to himself.”

Akechi put a comforting hand on his back, trying to alleviate the stress a little; Ren’s shoulders were taut. “Go call Takemi. It’s been an hour. We either have to give him something else or a bigger dose, but neither of us is a doctor, so we better ask.”

Ren grabbed his phone and left the room for a quick phone call, and Akechi sat down on the bed in his spot. Yusuke’s breath was laboured and just a tiny bit wheezing, indicating there is an infection brewing in his throat - or worse, in his lungs. 

Akechi frowned recalling how they both came home from work to find Yusuke curled on the couch in the living room, shivering slightly and bathed in sweat, his arm across his face to block out the light. He never told them he had a fever that morning. Granted, he was looking a bit under the weather, but he insisted it’s alright, that he simply didn’t sleep well. Nevertheless, he _did_ work a lot last week. He _did_ come home yesterday without an umbrella, having left it somewhere in the gallery. They should have known better.

And now it was past 7 p.m., the doctor’s appointment would be on the next day the soonest, they had scarcely any medication in the house and very limited means to help him. Goro cursed under his breath, took the compress and wetted it again. Peeling the covers slightly away from Yusuke, he got next to no reaction; he was deep in a feverish, pained sleep, lost in the realm of dreams. Only when Goro touched his overheated body with the wet washcloth, he flinched and complained in a quiet whine.

“Shush, Yusuke, I know,” Goro muttered. “But I have to cool you down a bit...” 

He really had to. Yusuke had a long night ahead of himself, and should the fever stay so high, in the morning he would be delirious. Ren wouldn’t handle that well, Akechi thought, wiping Yusuke’s neck.

Upon seeing his beloved in such a state, Ren had gathered him into his arms and carried him gently to the bedroom, all and any plans for the evening forgotten. Yusuke had protested at being moved and undressed down to his underwear, poked with a thermometer and asked a series of questions, but once he was tucked into much more comfortable bedding and the harsh overhead light was replaced with a soft glow of the bedside lamp, he quieted down and quickly fell into uneasy slumber. 

Ren and Akechi dug through the medicine stash and found some over-the-counter fever reliever, vitamin C and some expired antihistamines (which they had promptly disposed of) as well as some cough syrup. All practically useless for how bad Yusuke’s condition was at this point, but still better than nothing. So they had given him the meds, which he had washed down with honey-sweetened tea with lots of lemon juice, forced him to take a spoonful of the syrup and Ren rushed to inform Takemi.

An hour later the fever only climbed up, rendering Yusuke exhausted, passive, and incoherent.

Akechi rubbed the washcloth delicately over Yusuke’s arm, pressing it a bit longer over the inside of his elbow. He picked up the other hand and did the same, and Yusuke’s head lolled on the pillow. Goro wetted the cloth again.

“...’Kechi… cold…” Yusuke whispered without opening his eyes. He swallowed with effort, fighting the pain in his throat; his prone form started to tremble a little.

“I know, Yusuke. I know. It’s just a misleading feeling though, you’re burning up really badly. I have to cool you down.”

Yusuke whined, trying to curl into himself. Akechi moved the blanket up to cover him partially, and wiped his thighs down, lingering with the wet towel under the knees. The small cloth was quickly becoming warm in his hands, so he wetted it again.

“She says we can give him one more pill, but he should have something in his stomach by the end of the day,” Ren said quietly, coming back to the room. “What are you doing?”

Akechi kept working calmly.

“It’s an old trick… see, the places where there’s a lot of veins close to the surface of the skin? Inside of the wrist, or elbow, or the back of the knees. The blood loses heat, and then circulates, cooling the rest of the body off. It aids the meds.”

Ren watched him for a while, his wide, usually nervous hands wiping down Yusuke’s body, the neck, hands, his long legs. Goro aimed for his hands to be as steady and as gentle as possible, holding Yusuke’s limbs securely in his grip. His palms were so worn down now, callused, unmanicured. And yet, there was something good about them now, more real, more natural; those were the able hands that would take you to safety rather than lash out with clenched fists in useless rage.

“Where did you learn this?” Ren asked quietly, staring at Yusuke’s mouth, chapped and perpetually hanging open to catch some air. The artist’s face was so pale that it looked translucent. 

“You know where I learned this.” Akechi gave a clipped answer. “Anyway, the loss of heat is gradual this way and not as dangerous as a shower, for example. It will work fine.” 

“I’ll bring another towel,” Ren muttered, placing a quick peck at Akechi's temple. 

“Sure.”

Together they kept tending to Yusuke, patting down his body with lukewarm water, stroking his hair, murmuring sweet nothings to calm him down. The artist curled on his side with a somewhat less pained expression on his face; his breath came a bit more easily. Finally he came to, gave them both a bit more lucid stare and a crooked smile.

“...sorry I’m sick...” He whispered. 

“Not. Another. Word,” Akechi admonished, his voice going stern, like it used to. Ren stuffed the thermometer in Yusuke’s mouth. 

“Why would you feel like you have to apologize for falling ill...? We are both here to help you. To take care of you. You’re ill, Yusuke. _You have a right to fall ill._ It’s normal.”

“I’ll bring you some water, you must be dehydrated,” Goro said, shaking his head, and got up from the edge of the bed. Ren patiently waited for the beep of the thermometer and read the scale. It was 38.9 . The fever has finally broken. 

Yusuke washed down one more pill with a whole glass of water, which demanded some coaxing, and then he was reclined on the pillows and wrapped up in the blanket again. The compress was returned to his forehead, and his two boyfriends stayed close, offering safety and comfort. By his expression alone it was easy to tell that Yusuke was able to feel some relief, but now that he’d awoken, there was no coming back to sleep.

“One of us should run to the drugstore,” Akechi muttered, propped on one elbow and reclining beside Yusuke on the bed. “We are ill-prepared and under-equipped, I loathe to admit.”

“Takemi scheduled the visit first thing in the morning. She will provide medicines herself, but afterwards you’ll take him home, and I will make sure to stock up on the other stuff, okay?” Ren’s hand was stroking the blue hair in a calming, repetitive pattern. His guilty expression spoke volumes on how he’s already making mental lists of the immediate remedies he should buy, to make their medicine cabinet amount to something more than just a first aid kit. Akechi nudged him playfully to distract him and gave Yusuke a small kiss.

“Knowing Takemi, she will prescribe you a custom-made fever reliever. Highly effective, fast to take effect _and_ fun to apply,” He teased.

Ren’s eyes sparked with interest, while Yusuke just stared, his forehead clouded with tentative suspicion. One could expect any mischief from Goro.

“What do you mean, fun to apply?” Ren smirked, quirking an eyebrow.

“The fastest fever reliever is a rectal suppository, of course.”

“...Oh _no_.” Yusuke moaned, but Ren flashed Akechi a cat-who-got-the-milk, predatory smile, the previous worry gone from his thoughts for now.

“Oh _yes_ ,” he said, “we could play doctor, Yusuke! Give you a thorough examination, document all the data, and then stick the medicine up your pretty bum. I bet you’d enjoy that!”

“I bet _I’d_ enjoy that.” Akechi smirked. 

“We can take turns, nurse Goro,” Ren agreed, “...and suddenly being ill is not as scary anymore, right?” He mocked with a sincere laugh, and Yusuke couldn’t help but smile just a bit into the pillow. He closed his eyes to spare himself their giddiness; they were exhausting in tandem, but their presence was soothing him in ways he couldn’t even start to explain. 

Some more time passed, but he still couldn’t sleep.

“Would you like me to read you something?” Ren suggested, kissing the knuckles of his right hand. 

“Or maybe you’d like white noise,” Goro suggested. “Like a musical or something. You like those. I’ll carry you to the couch and we’ll pick something nice.”

“I could start on the supper,” Ren chimed in. “A nice, aromatic broth, easy on the stomach. And steamed veggies.”

“...that, yes,” Yusuke nodded meekly, grabbing the edge of his blanket; just like a child. Ren couldn’t help but smile sadly. The amount of damage Madarame wrought… to think he would be apprehensive to tell them about being ill, or unwell. There was still a lot of work to be done to rebuild Yusuke’s sense of security and self-worth. 

And some things... would not change at all.

But for now Ren just grabbed his own sweater from the shelf, oversized, worn out and comfortable, slightly smelling of himself; Goro helped to put the garment over Yusuke’s head and tuck his arms into the sleeves, and then scooped him into his arms, trailing the edge of the blanket on the floor. Ren opened the door for them, watching Yusuke cling to Goro’s shoulders and hide his face in the crook of his neck. Akechi carried him gently, like something precious, careful that Yusuke’s feet wouldn’t bump on a door frame. He settled on the couch, arranged Yusuke in between his legs and propped him on his chest, and the sniffling artist thankfully sunk into Goro’s embrace. Ren picked up “Phantom of the Opera”. Can’t go wrong with Lloyd Webber. 

As long as he had them both… 

Yusuke would be fine.


End file.
